Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1116 It's not that I don't want to pick melon seeds, it's that I didn't dare to before.
Since someone was looking for him, Li Long couldn't stay there any longer, and Xie Yundong and the others also went back.

"I was saying I'd have Pingping butcher a chicken tonight so we could have a drink together," Tao Daqiang said with some regret. "Brother Long, is there something you have to do and go back?"

"Then you guys keep drinking, I won't miss this meal." Li Long smiled, "There's less work in the winter, so I'll come back every now and then."

"Are you free tomorrow?" Xie Yundong asked. "It's no fun without you. If you're free, come back so we can get together and you can tell us about your experiences abroad."

"Tomorrow? There should be nothing to do tomorrow," Li Long said after thinking for a moment.

They hadn't gotten together much lately, so Li Long thought they should get together sometime.

"Alright, I'll set the net first thing tomorrow morning and collect the fish in the afternoon," Tao Daqiang said with a smile. "We'll slaughter the chicken at noon and have a good meal together."

"What are you saying?" Xie Yundong patted him. "You missed your date today, but it's my turn tomorrow."

The two started arguing, and Li Long smiled and said:

"It doesn't matter whose house it is, it's all the same. One meal every week. Anyway, you guys have good food, so I'm not afraid to go and eat. I have to go now."

After putting everything out of the trunk, Li Long was about to drive away when Li Qingxia waved to him and said:
"Xiaolong, don't drive this car to the team's location. This is a gravel road; if a stone kicks up and hits the car, it'll leave a dent. It's not worth it!"

Li Long thought about it and agreed. Driving the Jeep on this road, he didn't have to worry. The car looked so beautiful with all the paint, it would be heartbreaking if it got scratched.

Because of this, he drove a bit slower.

As you turn the corner, you can still see Xie Yundong and Tao Daqiang arguing in the rearview mirror about who will treat you to dinner tomorrow.

Li Long drove carefully back to the compound, and after turning off the engine and finding that there was nothing wrong with the car, he went to the recycling station with peace of mind.

The Muscovy car was parked at the purchasing station, along with Old Gu's van.

When he entered the yard of the purchasing station, some middlemen were still moving apples, and some people who recognized him greeted him.

"Hey, Mr. Li, it's rare for you not to drive. Where did your nice car go?"

"I parked it at home," Li Long replied casually. Seeing that many people were gathered around the door preparing to sell their things, he didn't squeeze in and instead walked to the backyard from the side.

Since someone has come, they should be in the reception room.

Yes, there is someone in the reception room, Bai Xiuming.

Li Long was somewhat surprised when he heard that the man had come. After all, Li Long had called him earlier and the man had said he didn't need any raw materials.

Why are you here again now?

When Bai Xiuming saw Li Long, he felt a little awkward and stood up to greet him.

"Hello, Mr. Li. Come, come, look at this gift I brought for you."

As he spoke, Bai Xiuming took out a relatively exquisite gift box for this era and showed it to Li Long:

"Top-grade tea, produced in our area, isn't cheap."

Looking at the tea's name, Li Long knew it was indeed a fairly well-known brand.

As for authenticity, in this day and age, even counterfeiting has its limits.

Of course, Li Long couldn't tell the difference in quality or grade either. Since the other party had taken the initiative to be friendly, Li Long had no reason to keep putting on a cold face. In business, it's normal for someone not to want the raw materials for the time being without a contract.

Of course, Li Long guessed that their return meant the arrival of raw materials.

"Thank you. Here, have an apple." Li Long pointed to the washed apples on the table and said, "They were brought from Yili, the Yili that's known as the 'Jiangnan of the North.'"

At that time, the people in the region had no concept of Yili, let alone Yili, and had no concept of the entire northern Xinjiang region. The meme about "being exiled to Yili" that appeared on the internet later really felt like being exiled.

There are reasons related to propaganda in northern Xinjiang. Of course, for many years, stability has been the top priority in northern Xinjiang, with economic development being secondary. Therefore, the true situation has never been known to others.

Bai Xiuming casually grabbed one, took a bite, and praised it:
"The apples are nice, very sweet."

Li Long picked one up himself, and while eating, he asked:
When did you arrive?

"I checked in at noon today and then came over. I saw a car parked in your yard, is it an imported one? What brand is it? I've never seen it before."

“I’m from Muscovites. I partnered with someone to do business in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, and that’s how I got these vehicles,” Li Long said while eating an apple. “They’re short of supplies from here, so I’m just making some foreign exchange on the side.”

"You can earn foreign exchange! Mr. Li, you're really something!" Bai Xiuming gave a thumbs up. "Unlike us, we can only dabble in small-scale snacks and live in constant fear."

Li Long knew it was time for him to explain. Anyway, he wasn't in a hurry. He had the raw materials, so he had the initiative. He could ask the other party for a price if they wanted them. He also wanted to hear why the other party hadn't wanted the raw materials in the first place.

Li Long didn't respond to that question; instead, he said:
"I just happened to have an opportunity. Business over there isn't easy, and there are many things that are lacking there that I can't easily get here. So I can only get things that are available here."

Seeing that Li Long didn't respond, Bai Xiuming's eyes darted around, and he asked:
"Is that car for your own use or are you planning to sell it? Does it have all the necessary paperwork?"

"The paperwork is all in order, and I just drove it back yesterday. If you had come two days earlier, you wouldn't have seen me; I would still be over there. I'm leaving this car here because I plan to sell it."

"How much are you selling it for? Your car looks pretty nice. Is it easy to drive?"

"Do you have a license? If you do, you can give it a try. It's definitely easier to drive than a Jeep," Li Long said. If he could sell the car to Bai Xiuming, that would be great.

Of course, this car can't be sold cheaply.

He would lose a lot of money if he sold the car, which had all the paperwork, as a scrapped vehicle.

Bai Xiuming immediately felt an itch to play, and he hurriedly said:

"Yes, I can drive. I have a license, although I got it through a middleman, but I really know how to drive. My boss over there has a car, and I get to drive it occasionally for fun. By the way, his is a Santana, not as nice as yours."

Li Long thought to himself, "If you can only drive a Santana by rubbing it, then this one should be worth at least 50,000 yuan, right?"

Of course, it depends on whether both parties are willing. Bai Xiuming may not have that much money, so it's hard to say.

Once outside, Li Long handed the keys to Bai Xiuming. Watching him skillfully open the car door, sit down, adjust his position, fasten his seatbelt, insert the key, step on the brake, and start the engine, Li Long felt relieved.

He's an experienced driver, at least better than Xie Yundong and the others when they first started. Those guys didn't have the habit of wearing seatbelts when they first got in the car.

I doubt they've managed to raise them yet.

After starting the car, Bai Xiuming drove around the backyard twice. The main crop they were harvesting now was codonopsis pilosula, unlike before when it required extensive drying. The backyard was large enough that even with three tractors parked there, a car could easily make a turn.

After carefully driving around the backyard twice, Bai Xiuming turned off the engine, got out of the car, and said:

"It's a good car, the break-in period went very well, and it drives very smoothly. How much did it cost?"

"How much does a Santana cost? A new one would cost at least 200,000 yuan, right? If it's a used car, less than five years old, it would cost at least 100,000 yuan, right? This car is only five years old."

Li Long said.

Bai Xiuming was immediately in a dilemma.

“Of course I won’t sell it for that much.” Li Long smiled. “Fifty thousand yuan. If you can come up with that, then we can go and transfer the ownership. The paperwork will definitely be complete. It’s not a smuggled car, so there won’t be any trouble.”

When he mentioned 50,000 yuan, Bai Xiuming immediately hesitated.

If he were to try hard, he could come up with 50,000 yuan, but once he did, he wouldn't have much money left.

“Of course, if you don’t have that much money, there are other ways.” Li Long leisurely took back the key and twirled it in his hand as he spoke.

"I want to buy your raw materials, but I won't do anything that involves low-quality materials at high prices!" Bai Xiuming said hurriedly.

"What are you thinking?" Li Long glanced at him. "Do you think I'm that kind of person? I'm all about quality. When have I ever given you anything that wasn't top quality? How could I possibly do something like that?"

"That's good, that's good." Bai Xiuming breathed a sigh of relief. He subconsciously thought that Li Long was trying to bribe him, so he quickly refused, mainly because he was afraid he wouldn't be able to resist the temptation. If Li Long asked him to raise the price for inferior goods, the price would be a car, and he felt that he might not be able to refuse. Saying it in advance was to give himself a heads-up.

"Then... what's the solution?" Bai Xiuming looked at the car, feeling very reluctant to part with it.

"Do you have any shoe factories around here? If so, send me a few thousand pairs of shoes, and I can replace this car. Of course, they have to be good quality shoes; don't try to fool me with those cheap knock-offs."

In northern Xinjiang, some light industrial products are not produced much, or only in small quantities. So, if you want to get a large quantity of shoes and cotton-padded clothes, you have to find a way to get them from other sources.

"We do have shoes where we live. But it's definitely impossible to get several thousand pairs of new leather shoes. The retail price of leather shoes there is already twenty or thirty yuan, and even the wholesale price is more than ten yuan. We can probably only get three thousand pairs at most."

"What about cotton-padded shoes?" The climate in the Kazakhstan-Russian Soviet Socialist Republic is similar to that in northern Xinjiang, and it might even be colder than in Ma County. In winter, cotton-padded shoes are definitely necessary, and cotton-padded clothes are certainly popular.

"Those are cheaper, a few dollars a pair, and it might be even cheaper wholesale."

"Okay, how about half the money and half the shoes? Half leather shoes and half cotton-padded shoes," Li Long said, not quite sure if shoes would sell well in the Kazakhstan Soviet Socialist Republic. "One transaction at a time, this doesn't apply to anything else, is that alright?"

“Okay then.” Bai Xiuming looked at the car and said, “I need to check the paperwork and inspect the car.”

"Take your time, wait a moment, I'll go get the paperwork." Li Long smiled, estimating that this deal would be quite profitable.

The main reason he went to Kazakhstan was not just to hunt, but also to observe the situation there.

Even in places like Almaty, there are still handmade shoe shops, and they do quite well.

It seems that industrially produced leather shoes are either unaffordable for the average person or produced in limited quantities.

That's why handmade shoe shops have a place to exist; the people who buy shoes there aren't necessarily wealthy.

So Li Long felt that there should be a market for shoes there. He discussed it with Liu Shanmin, and Liu Shanmin agreed that he should bring in a batch of shoes to test the waters.

In any case, if Bai Xiuming pays half the price, then the car sale will be profitable, and the remaining money from the shoes will be pure profit.

Li Long handed over the paperwork, and Bai Xiuming had already begun inspecting the car. He was checking it quite thoroughly, examining the tires, engine, trunk, interior, and so on.

No matter how you look at it, this car seems better than the one his boss drives. That car is two or three years old, and it doesn't look as nice as this one.

If I could really get it for 50,000 yuan, including the cash and the goods, it would definitely be better than the boss's.

Of course, this is on the premise that the car doesn't have any major problems.

He had some experience, and after checking, he found that the car indeed had no problems. Looking at the documents Li Long had brought over, the customs clearance documents were complete, and although the instruction manual was in a foreign language, he could recognize the numbers.

"Then it's settled. I'll take the car, pay half the price, and the other half is the goods—leather shoes and cotton-soled rubber shoes. Shall we discuss how many pairs we want? And what shoe sizes we need?"

"We need some of each size, from 39 to 42," Li Long said after a rough calculation. "How about a thousand pairs of leather shoes and three thousand pairs of cotton-padded shoes?"

"I need to ask," Bai Xiuming said, knowing that Li Long was calculating at wholesale price, and unsure if he could get it at that price.

Actually, thinking about it, he actually made a profit. If he were to take this car back to his own city, he'd definitely find someone willing to pay at least 70,000 or 80,000 yuan, let alone 50,000. After all, a Santana costs 200,000 yuan, and although this car isn't new, it's cheap.

"Okay, there's a phone over there. We don't know if you're off work yet, you can call and ask."

"No, I'll go back to the guesthouse to do it. By the way, let's talk business now. I actually came here to buy raw materials. Do you still have any melon seeds here?"

Li Long asked with a half-smile:
"What? Didn't you say you didn't want it?"

"Sigh, back then... let me tell you this, our factory was terrified. You know Shazi Melon Seeds, right? Back then, there were rumors that Shazi Melon Seeds was being investigated. We are a private factory after all, so we were worried and didn't dare to expand production. We quickly adjusted our structure."

Li Long smiled; he had anticipated this situation.

"Aren't you afraid now?" he asked with a smile.

“We’re not afraid anymore,” Bai Xiuming said. “If we reduce production, we’ll have less tax revenue. The local authorities have assured us that they won’t cause us any trouble and will protect us. So our factory leaders are at ease and have resumed production.”

But to be honest, we didn't dare stockpile raw materials during that period, so the raw material suppliers sold them directly to state-owned factories. Now it's difficult for us to find raw materials, so we came to you."

Having reached a preliminary agreement with Li Long to buy the car, Bai Xiuming is now less cautious in his speech, and he's not afraid that Li Long will use this as an excuse to raise the price.

"So that means I can raise the price if I want?"

"Well... I'm afraid that still won't work." Bai Xiuming shook his head and said somewhat awkwardly, "My current authority level is 3.5 yuan, that's the highest I can go."

"Three yuan and fifty cents it is, how much do you want?" Li Long thought to himself, "These melon seeds I collected out of kindness earlier will come in handy now."

"I meant the best quality ones, the three yuan and fifty cents, the flat-bottomed kind," Bai Xiuming quickly added. "The regular three yuan and fifty cents won't do!"

"Don't worry, I won't cheat you. You can check it later."

"That's good." Bai Xiuming was relieved.

Li Long looked outside; it was already dark. He then said:
"Do you want to see it today or tomorrow? Even if you see it now, you can't take it away, right? By the way, how many tons do you need?"

"I want as many as you have..." Bai Xiuming said confidently.

“I have fifty tons, do you want them all?” Li Long asked.

"Yes, we'll take them all!" With the official guarantee, Bai Xiuming's factory was truly unafraid. Nowadays, nut and nut factories like theirs are very cautious. Since the authorities are backing them up, they can expand production and seize the market.

“Okay, then bring your cars over tomorrow, bring a few more, and also take care of the shoes.” Li Long put away the paperwork. “It’s settled then, cash on delivery, cars on delivery.”

"Okay." Bai Xiuming stood up and said, "It's about time. How about I treat you to dinner tonight?"

Li Long thought to himself, "This is great! The other party not only came to my door with gifts, but also invited me to dinner."
"Forget it, you just got here today and you must be tired. I just got back yesterday, I drove all the way here and I'm exhausted too. Let's order the goods tomorrow and then talk about it."

"Okay." Bai Xiuming didn't insist. He was also eager to go back and finalize the matter of the shoes as soon as possible.

Having dealt with Li Long for a long time, he wasn't worried about Li Long going back on his word. Instead, he was worried that if he didn't get the goods and money over sooner, it would be troublesome if someone else wanted to buy the car.

Who wouldn't want a cheap car?

Li Long didn't care much. After seeing Bai Xiuming off, and seeing that there was hardly anyone left in the front yard, he told Gu Boyuan to close the gate, and the two of them went back to eat together.

Liang Shuangcheng was used to cooking for himself, so he happily turned up the stove fire, lifted the stove lid, put the pot on it, washed the dried mushrooms that had been soaking for a while, and then prepared some vegetables to cook some noodles.

For a bachelor like me, a simple meal is fine.

Li Long and Gu Boyuan walked to the courtyard. On the way, Gu Boyuan asked about Bai Xiuming's situation.

After Li Long finished speaking, Gu Boyuan said:
"There are fifty tons of watermelon seeds in the warehouse. People came to deliver them every day when you were gone. There have been fewer people these past few days, but it's still about the same. We bought them for one yuan each, and we're selling them for three yuan and fifty cents... We've made quite a bit of money."

"I didn't expect them to come back to collect again this year," Li Long said. "I guess it's a case of good deeds being rewarded."

"I heard he's driving a car again? What? Planning to sell that car?"

"Yeah, we're bringing them back to sell. We don't need that many cars at home."

"how much is it?"

"Fifty thousand," Li Long said. "Not all of it. Have him send some shoes over, and then have Boss Liu take them to the Soviet Union. They're short of shoes and cotton-padded clothes there, so we can make a profit by sending them over."

"Hey, this car must be making a lot of money, right?"

"This car has all the paperwork. I bought it for a higher price than your batch, so I'll sell it for a higher price too. Of course, I'll make a good profit. We'll be sending out fewer cars in the future, but the selling price will still be higher." Li Long was quite satisfied.

When resources are scarce and there are many newly rich people, the ways to make money are quite unconventional and numerous!
PS: There is one more chapter

(End of this chapter)